Month: June 2017

Righteous Anger aroused because of false doctrine showing love for the Truth

Acts 17:16-17

6 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was troubled within him when he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

The word “troubled” in Greek is paroxunó which means I arouse anger, provoke, irritate.

The word “reasoned” in Greek is dialegomai which means I converse, address, preach, lecture; I argue, reason.

Have you as a Christian come across a post that maligned or taught false doctrine about Jesus Christ? Did it irritate you or stimulate a righteous anger within you? Did you like we see in Paul, address the false doctrine? Did you preach to them the truth of the gospel or did you just sit by and say nothing or even worse said something positive as not to offend?

To walk in godliness is simply to imitate Jesus Christ’s life. To love your enemies, uphold those who are in need through material goods or through encouragement. One of the aspects that sometimes gets forgotten in godliness is contending for the truth of the gospel.

If you find yourself in the presence of evil, in the form of anything that would put shackles in people’s lives, will you stay silent?

You cannot obtain godliness by popularity among your friends, family, and people in WordPress or in any other internet outlet for that matter.

We are in a spiritual warfare against demonic spirits that wants to take people away from Christ and send them to hell.

Christianity is not a popularity contest to see how many likes we can get but is about bringing people to Jesus Christ by telling them the truth.

If you see false doctrine in someone’s post, for the sake of the person who wrote it and his/her readers, do you tell them the truth? If you keep silent how can you be godly? Jesus said the truth regardless if His hearers liked what He said or not but nevertheless Jesus told them because He loved them and because it was the truth and the truth needs to be told period.

Don’t just talk the talk but walk it.

We are not here to awe people on the internet with our nice words and comments (non-offensive words) to butter them up but we are here to glorify Jesus Christ by telling people the truth.

Ask yourself, which one are you? A people pleaser or a Jesus pleaser?

Do you sacrifice the truth to obtain people’s friendship or sacrifice their friendship for the sake of the truth?

“BFHU: Where has Sola Scriptura always existed? It did not exist until Martin Luther invented it. Did you know that because of his adherence to Sola Scriptura Luther had the audacity to delete 7 books from the NT that conflicted with his doctrines.For instance, he taught that we are saved by faith alone. Sola Fide. But, in James we find these words;James 2:24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

I will concentrate on this statement “For instance, he taught that we are saved by faith alone. Sola Fide. But, in James we find these words;James 2:24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

I strongly disagree. All false religion have one thing in common and I mean ALL. They reject the Bible as the only authoritative Book and claim to have some extra-Biblical sources that were revealed later. The thing is that at least and this is for the Catholics, we can agree that the Bible is God’s Word, right? If someone comes and tells you that this material is also inspired then test it with what you already know to be God’s Word to see if it agrees with the revelation of holy scripture. Don’t let yourself be blindsided because it sounds good or because you grew up in it but test it with what is 100% reliable, God’s everlasting Word, the Bible. To understand the Bible we cannot come to it with a preconceived notion or with a made up mind on any particular verse. To know what James meant, we must look at the whole context in regards to faith and works to allow the scripture to tell us what it means.

As for James 2:24 which says, “24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

I will start with verse 14 which says, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can his faith save him?

If a person claims to have faith in Jesus Christ, how can he prove that he is saved? He proves it by producing works according to the scripture.

And in verses 15-17 which says, “15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.”

One of the ways that saving faith can be seen is through helping fellow believers with everyday basic necessities and also with nonbelievers as well. If a professing believer in Jesus never shows any love by helping them, it reveals that the Holy Spirit hasn’t transformed his heart because he is still without saving faith. In Philippians 2:13 it says, “13 For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.

To have good works one must first be saved and have the Holy Spirit in you to have the desire to do God’s will.

Faith means that a person trusts in Jesus with his whole life and desires to imitate Him so that we may please Him.

Continuing with verse 18 which says, “18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works.

This verse is one of the clearest to understand what James is trying to convey. How can you show someone saving faith? Only through works, meaning that faith precedes works. To have good works indicate that you have faith already, so faith alone in Jesus Christ is required to receive the Holy Spirit who enables you to have good works.

Now, James uses Abraham as an example in verses 20-23 which says, “20 Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? 21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected. 23 So the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, and he was called God’s friend.”

A Christian that doesn’t want to preach or tell people about Jesus, read the Bible or have love for people through helping them with their basic needs when given the opportunity has useless faith. A useless faith simply means that their faith is dead. A dead faith cannot bring glory to Christ, only one who has saving faith can the Spirit of God move through that person to fulfill God’s will.

James like Paul (Romans 4) quoted the passage in Genesis 15:6 which has nothing to do with works but Abraham just believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

We must understand that before Abraham showed any good works or better yet before he was tested by God to see if he would sacrifice his son, God declared him righteous, based only by believing in Him.

James is saying with Abraham that perfect faith has to be seen so that it may bring glory and honor to Jesus Christ.

When verse 24 says that “man is justified by works and not by faith alone,” In light of James using Abraham as an example we can conclude that good works in a person shows that he has been declared (past tense) righteous. Works is a byproduct of saving faith

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, restraining the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.

Who are these four angles? In Revelation 9:15 there are also four angels that are unleashed with one of the Trumpets and are clearly demons who come to make war. The context here doesn’t say but it does make a distinction between the angel who has the seal, see verse 2 or mark of God with the four angels who do not have the seal of God. The four angels could possibly be fallen angels since they like those in Revelation 9:15 will bring destruction upon the earth. Another possiblity that they (the four angels) could be demons is because God is going to protect His children from these angels. Only demons attack believers, not angels from the Lord, see Job 1.

Angels from the Lord and fallen angels are participating in God’s judgments, see Revelation 9:1-12 (demons) & see Revelation 16:8 (an angel from the Lord)

The phrase “four corners of the earth” could refer that there will be no escaping for what’s coming.

The four angels were holding back God’s judgments that not even the wind was allowed to blow on the earth until the 144,000 were sealed with God’s seal, see verse 3.

2 Then I saw another angel, who had the seal of the living God rise up from the east. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were empowered to harm the earth and the sea:

The phrase “who had the seal of the living God” means a distinguishable mark to reveal that the angel belongs to the Lord. Satan through the Antichrist also mark those who belong to them.

3 “Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the slaves of our God on their foreheads.”

God protects His saints by sealing them with His mark (Jesus and the Father’s name was placed on their foreheads, see Revelation 14) so that they will be off limits to the four angels.

4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:

The ones who are being sealed are messianic Jews who came to believe that Jesus is the Messiah through faith.

5 12,000 sealed from the tribe of Judah,12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,12,000 from the tribe of Gad,

6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,

7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,12,000 from the tribe of Levi,12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,

8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,12,000 sealed from the tribe of Benjamin.

These 12,000 per tribe are selected for a special ministry for the Lord because they were blameless and righteous before God’s eyes, see Revelation 14:5 and He will protect them so that they may accomplish His will.

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Salvation

If you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, I encourage you today to do so. Repent and believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and took your punishment upon Himself, was buried and on the third day rose from the grave. If you give your life to Jesus by faith in His sacrifice, He will give you eternal life.

Some religions like Mormonism, Islam, and Catholicism, all claim that they have received new revelation.

A message to all believers in Christ Jesus

The desire of my heart is to reveal Satan’s tactics and how one can overcome his schemes. I want to encourage you to fight the good fight of faith. Putting on the full armor of God, by way of reading the Word of God and praying every day so that you may be strengthened and be transformed into the image of Christ for good works.

-SpaniardVIII

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A Brief Background

I grew up in a family that to this day still does Santeria (the raw form of Witchcraft). Jesus saved me from becoming one even though I participated as a young child under my mother's authority. As a child, I used to see literally, demons walking in my house and it used to scare the heck out of me. I would write down more of my experience but it would be too long. The desire in my heart is to reveal Satan's tactics and how one can overcome his schemes. I want to encourage you to fight the good fight of faith. Putting on the full armor of God by way of reading the Bible and praying every day so that you may be transformed into the image of Christ for good works. If you haven't made Jesus your Lord and Savior, I pray that you do because there is no other way to make it to heaven as seen in John 14:6 which says, "Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" If you believe that He died for your sins and on the third day He rose from the grave you will be saved. Ask Jesus today, to forgive you of all of your sins and to save you and He will.